Former Congressman Frank donates his 'treasure trove' of papers to UMass Dartmouth library

When U.S. Congressman Barney Frank was looking at retirement in January before he left office after a 40-year political career, with 32 years in Washington D.C., it was an easy decision to choose to donate his volumes of papers to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

When U.S. Congressman Barney Frank was looking at retirement in January before he left office after a 40-year political career, with 32 years in Washington D.C., it was an easy decision to choose to donate his volumes of papers to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

After all, back in 1981 when his congressional district was reconfigured from the mainly Boston area to southeastern Massachusetts, his new constituents embraced him, Frank told a large audience on Tuesday at an event marking the introduction of Frank’s archives held at the UMass Dartmouth Claire T. Carney Library.

The event was part of a week-long celebration of the inauguration of Chancellor Divina Grossman who will be formally inducted on Thursday.

“I have come to very much appreciate the people, the life, the culture of southeastern Massachusetts and it’s an enthusiasm I want to continue to share,” said Frank, a Harvard University graduate.

Frank acknowledged the supporters he’s had over the years in the region and political aids that hail from his former district sitting in the audience.

“Some of them may be here wondering what may be in the papers, maybe they’d like the chance to take one or two things out, but we have some discretion on this,” said Frank, getting a laugh from the crowd.

After Frank left office, 500 boxes of papers arrived at the university that covered his years in U.S. House of Representatives, as a Massachusetts state representative and election campaigns, said Terrance Burton, the dean of the UMass Dartmouth library.

The papers, Burton called a “massive treasure trove,” document the highlights of Frank’s career that include his leadership in legislation that allowed sweeping reforms in the country’s financial industry, gay rights, housing, immigration and the terrorist attack on the U. S. on 9/11.

“It’s a very large quantity of material from a very long and distinguished career,” Burton said.

Frank recounted the fight to stop the LNG plant in northern Fall River, where he was able to pass legislation to stop it after the Taunton River was granted a Wild and Scenic designation. He remembered angry debates with “the bigots” who said that the people of Fall River would never enjoy the beauty of the Taunton River.

“We made the point that this is a great place to live. So I do hope the papers I’ve donated will bring people here,” Frank said.

But even more important, having the archive bring people to a university like UMass Dartmouth. If universities like UMass Dartmouth do not prosper, Frank said, America’s future will not be nearly what it should be.

“First of all, in terms of our economic growth, if first-rate higher education is limited to people who are wealthy to begin with, our chances of prospering is diminished,” Frank said, “If we are all going to do well we need a highly educated workforce, not a highly educated few.”

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The way to rid of excess inequality based on race, class and gender is to diminish inequality in education, Frank said.

Grossman said one can see that Frank’s heart is with the people of the SouthCoast and the university. Frank, Grossman said, spoke with her about how education leads to true democratization.

From his role in financial reform to his work with the gay rights, everything Frank has done as a leader “has been meaningful,” Grossman said.

“He is truly a man of the people,” Grossman said.

History professor Mark Santow called the donation of Frank’s papers to the university a “major coup” and said it says something about the kind of man the congressman is by giving his work to a public university.

“He’s been giving back to his constituents for decades and this is just another example of it,” Santow said.

As a teacher, the papers are a tremendous opportunity not just for researchers, but students to study history, economics, political science, business and policy studies.

“There are an immense range of things they will be able to gain from doing research in these papers. We are going to be able to attract scholars from around the country and around the world,” Santow said.

In addition to donating his papers, Frank has agreed to conduct seminars for students and staff once a semester and will help the university fundraise to form an endowment that will support processing the documents, digitizing them and programming, Grossman said.